It had been a very good duck hunt. Clear, bright December day. Sky swept clean by a raging north wind. And at this particular spot in a small marsh surrounded by grazing cattle, we were where the birds wanted to be.
The last few years have seen a jump in the number of women getting involved in the shooting sports and the shotgun sports are seeing a surge in women participating. So much so that gun manufactures are even marketing guns specifically for women. For me, whatever gets them out there enjoying a morning or afternoon of shooting is fantastic.
When we think of bird hunting, we instantly go to a sacred place that exists in our hearts – a sacred covert we protect. We dream of finding that place again and want to know it will still be there long after we are gone. As a group, we engage in friendly debates about the dogs, guns and game we prefer. We share our stories, but it’s that moment we find alone in the field that we think about at the end of the day, in a comfortable chair. The birds we hunt are worth finding for the first time, worth fighting for and worth remembering.
The porch was long and spacious. There were comfortable chairs and tables along the wall, and a short drop from the porch down to the natural flora of Texas Hill country spread a few dozen yards out to a limestone bluff that overlooked the valley of Joshua Creek. I was leaned back in a chair with a cup of black coffee, watching the morning unfold. Across the valley, I could hear the calls of quail, pheasant roosters, and a couple of hen mallards gossiping, or arguing, or whatever it is they talk about.
Shotgun aficionados have uttered the name “Fratelli Piotti” with a veneration reserved for the English best. The Italian gunmaker has given us among the most beautiful over/unders and side-by-sides ever to grace our planet since opening its doors in the late 1960s.
Africa is in the blood of Joe Coogan and now that he’s left shotgun maker Benelli USA he’s returning to the place that shaped him as a man.
Mr. Coogan, one of the last witnesses to the Golden Age of African safaris, is teaming up with his old-time friend and colleague Soren Lindstrom of Soren Lindstrom’s Africa to offer wingshooting adventures in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia along with other hunting safaris. Mr. Coogan recently started Africa All Ways from his base in Merritt Island, Florida to support and represent Soren Lindstrom’s Africa here in the U.S.
Well for us here from the Mid-Atlantic up to Maine, the winter hopefully is having its last hurrah and Spring is coming! I guess ol’ Punxsutawney Phil was right when he said six more weeks of winter, and boy have we had it! Good grief, we are so ready for some good weather and with that comes shooting fun again.
The first weekend in January is one of my favorite here, because that’s when my organization, California Waterfowl, does one of the coolest things ever: We take a group of college wildlife biology students from non-hunting backgrounds, teach them to shoot, put them through hunter education, then take them on a hunt. All in one weekend.
It took five years to complete, but the vision of Franco Gussalli Beretta and Master Izumi Koshiro was ultimately unveiled on February 5, 2015 at the Safari Club International Convention in Las Vegas.
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